


The Troubles of Acquiring Food

by botgal



Category: Hiveswap, Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Foraging for food is hard, Head Massage, Headaches & Migraines, Nosebleed, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Psychic Powers Overload, Telekinesis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 06:19:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12451359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/botgal/pseuds/botgal
Summary: Joey and Xefros have managed to scrounge up a meal from the Alternian wilderness.Now if only they could actually get to eating it.





	The Troubles of Acquiring Food

**Author's Note:**

> You guys have no idea how effing close I was to titling this 'Bust A Nut'.  
> I almost did it.  
> It almost was a thing that happened.

“I'm back.” Joey looked up when she heard Xefros's voice, and saw him closing the makeshift door they had made over the cave using a piece of bark that Treetoe had ripped off of a tree. (This had been done only in the pursuit of food, rather than any attempt to help them, but it had been fortuitous for them nonetheless.) These wee hours before the morning were the perfect time to scavenge some food to augment their meager stock. Thankfully at least the lususes could fend for themselves out in the open like this, or they might have been strained even further in looking for food than they already were.

“Oh, welcome back,” Joey greeted as the Troll plopped down on the ground in front of her. Joey had turned out to be quite a bit better at tending to the fire and setting up the basics of camp, so she usually left food acquirement and cleaning of the area to Xefros. It was a decent system. “Did you find anything good?” Hopefully something that _wasn't_ bugs.

“Oh yeah, I found plenty of it, too.” Xefros rummaged a bit, and put down two great big handfuls of what looked like some kind of dark blue walnuts on the floor between them. All the foliage on Alternia sure came in strange colors. But, well, food was food when one was hungry enough, she supposed. “I found a whole tree of these over thataway. They're really good for you. I used to eat them all the time on the days before big games.” When he was able to get them delivered on time, anyway. “They're really full of fiber and vitamins and stuff. Very good for you.”

“Well, as long as it's not bugs, I'll take it,” Joey chuckled. Xefros smiled a bit. Honestly he found her repulsion to grubs and such in food a little strange, but then who was he to judge an alien. She probably thought he was pretty weird, too.

Joey picked up one of the strange nuts and started feeling around with her nails while Xefros warmed up his hands by the fire. She kept turning the nut, but her brow slowly furrowed and her smile faded the more she picked at the thing. Out of frustration, she finally tried just mushing it between her palms, but the shell held firm. This nut wasn't cracking.

“Uh... Kind of stupid question, I think, but... How am I supposed to open this?”

Xefros looked at her with confusion for a moment, before his face went on one of those wide spectrum transitions where he went from looking confused, to shocked, to worried all in the span of ten seconds or less.

“Oh no. Oh no I messed up,” he muttered, looking exceptionally worried. “I forgot how hard the shells were! I didn't think about getting them open when I got them back!” Joey saw him get that self defeating look about him, and quickly made to intervene.

“It's okay, Xefros, it's fine. We just have to find a way to open them,” she said quickly. “I guess we don't have a nutcracker or anything... but I'm sure we can make do with what we have. We have to have something that should do the trick.”

Joey quickly rifled through all of her belongings. Well, if Byers' pecking was going to get them open, it'd probably take him a week to peck through one with his tiny beak. Spice mix would probably make them taste good, but not get them open. Putting batteries in a nut would kind of defeat the purpose when one was trying to get something  _out_ of the nut, not put something in. And the pogs... No. Just no.

Joey looked up and saw Xefros trying to pick at one with what looked like a little silver spoon that had bent out of shape, but it seemed he was having no more luck than she was. Joey mused over the situation a bit, then gasped when an idea came to her.

“That's it!” Xefros started when she cried out and jumped up. In moments she was donning her tap shoes, and set a nut down apart from the rest. “This ought to get it open!” Joey recalled the steps to a short little number she had learned and went for it. A quick warm up with some little steps, a bit of a spin, and then she lifted her foot up high and _stomped_ the ever loving heck out of that nut.

Or at least she would have, had she not rolled forward the moment she stepped down and immediately went flying forward. Quite likely would have landed on her face had Xefros not jumped up and caught her mid-fall. As it was, Joey ended up against his chest, a bit dazed from the sudden impact, even soft as it was. Cautiously, she turned her head to look at the nut she had attempted to stomp open.

Still as whole as before.

“Rats,” she muttered, then realized she was still on top of Xefros, and quickly scrambled up. “Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Are you okay, Xefros?” She offered out a hand and helped Xefros sit up.

“Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry your idea didn't work,” he replied softly.

“It's fine it didn't work, I'm just sorry I fell on you,” Joey sighed. “But now... I am kind of out of ideas.” Xefros looked thoughtful for a moment, considering hard, before he made a noise of assent.

“Um, hold on. I think I might be able to do something.” He stood up this time, and pulled out his trusty cuebat. No chalk around here, but it would have to do. He repositioned the nut on the floor and squared himself up into a proper stance. Shoulders good, hips turned. Focus up. Aaaaand...

Sent it ricocheting right off the floor when it didn't break from him hitting it, but rather slipped out from under the cuebat and went flying off the walls of the cave. The both of them yelped and tried to cover themselves from the rapidly flying nut as it bounced off of the walls and the ceiling in random patterns. Xefros dared to open his eyes to see where it was flying, and realized that as it was flying, it was headed straight for Joey. Without thinking he gripped the cuebat again and quickly swung in a strong downward arc.

_CRACK_

Joey cracked her eyes open when she no longer heard the dangerous bit of food flying off of the walls, and looked at Xefros. The Troll boy lifted his weapon slightly, and dared to take a look.

It was open! The shell had shattered and the sweet meat was there, ripe for the eating. It had worked! Buuut...

“... I don't think I want to do that again,” Xefros muttered.

“Probably a good call,” Joey agreed. She picked up the bit of food they had, brushing off the fragments of shell and throwing them into the fire. “Well, we have one open, at least. But I really don't think we have any way of opening the rest.” Treetoe was strong, but if they had him sit or stand on them, it would probably be too hard to move him off again. And as helpful as Mononoke was, she doubted that the Deercat would understand that they wanted him to crack open a nut with his teeth for them.

“... I think I might actually have one more way,” Xefros said softly. Joey looked at him with surprise.

“Really? What?” She asked curiously. She had no idea what else he could have had up his sleeve.

Xefros picked up another nut from the pile and rolled it in his hand. Then, he squeezed his eyes shut and focused on the round food in his hand. It was enveloped in a dark red energy and rose off his palm. Joey watched in amazement as, in mid-air, it began to shift and cracks ran up and down the sides of it, until at last the shell fell apart, and they were left with another piece of food.

“Ta-da,” he said weakly as he rubbed at his head. Joey gasped with amazement, grabbing onto his hand to look at it.

“Xefros that's amazing! I didn't know you could do that! HOW can you do that?!” she asked in astonishment.

“Oh, it's, um, it's just telekinesis. All us Rustbloods have it. I'm not really strong at it, but I guess it worked.” He blushed from embarrassment at being complimented. And from the fact that Joey had yet to let go of his hand. When at last she did, he dropped the opened nut next to the other one in her lap and looked at the rest. “I, uh... I guess I'll get started on opening the rest.”

“Thanks, Xefros. You're really incredible, you know that?” Joey smiled, only making him blush darker.

“Uh, it's... it's no problem.” He started to work his way through the rest of the nuts he'd gathered up, one by one cracking them open with the power of his mind. At one point, Mononoke and Treetoe returned, apparently having eaten their fill of whatever they had found, and Joey got up to go see to them and if they were alright. She gave Mononoke a few pets and watched as Treetoe lumbered on in. But started when she heard a sound of pain from Xefros.

“Xefros? Are you alright?” One look at him was enough to tell her that he clearly was not. If him doubled forward and holding his head was any indication. “Xefros!” She quickly went to him and sat down in front of him, looking him over. “What's wrong?” Xefros groaned and looked up at her, and Joey saw with a start that his nose was bleeding. “Xefros, what happened?!”

“I... ugh,” he groaned and held his head, fingers trying to rub at his temples. “I think I overdid it on my telekinesis... it happens.”

“Oh my god, Xefros I'm so sorry. I didn't know that could happen if you overdid it.”

“It's really fine,” he tried to reply, but a flash of pain washed over him and he doubled down instead. “I just... I think I just need to rest a bit.” Joey looked on with worry, then looked to the food. She knew what she had to do.

Carefully, she moved aside all of their food out of the way, and went so she was sitting besides Xefros. It was a bit of an awkward position, but she still reached over and carefully slipped her hands under Xefros's, and began to gently massage at his temples as he had been doing.

“... Joey?” Xefros tried to look at her, but he really didn't get far on that. The way she was massaging his head for him just felt so... nice. Comforting. He found himself relaxing into her and eventually Joey got him lying down so that his head was sideways in her lap. This was probably for the best the way he was. Much as she trusted him not to hurt her, she really didn't want the tips of his horns to be pointed at her body.

“You didn't have to keep going if it was going to be so much of a strain, Xefros,” she said softly. “I just want you to know your limits so you don't hurt yourself.”

“But...” he mumbled groggily, relaxed by how soothing she was being. “Tetrarch Dammek...”

“I know I know. He pushes you to be stronger. But you shouldn't keep going until you hurt yourself. It's just not healthy.” She chided gently. “... You did do really well, though. Just try not to push yourself that hard again, okay?” she murmured.

“...Okay.” Xefros let out a sigh and relaxed, letting joey continue on with what she was doing. She really had a bit of experience with this. Sometimes when their babysitter was out cold on the couch with a hangover, Joey'd had to help her out by massaging her head until her headache went away. She honestly didn't care for it.

This, on the other hand... was kind of nice. Xefros looked a lot better when he was relaxed, in her own opinion. He was always just too tense. At least like this, he seemed a lot calmer, more peaceful. She kept on massaging at the places that she remembered usually helped Roxy, and he kept mumbling or sighing. When she tried to rub around the top of his head, though, she realized his horns would be in the way. Well, she'd just have to rub around them.

She carefully massaged around the bases of the horns, doing her best to put a gentle pressure there. When she realized she heard a strange sound. Like something rumbling. It sounded sort of like Mononoke, but not. It took a good long minute for her to realize that that sound was indeed purring, but it wasn't from the Deercat.

It was, in fact, coming from Xefros. Looking calm and content as she rubbed around the thick bases of his horns. Xefros was purring.

Okay, that was probably one of the cutest things she had ever seen in her whole life.

But, focus on the task at hand, Joey. Friend is in need of help still, then the both of them had to eat.

She could wonder at how adorable that purring is later.

 


End file.
